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Reports are circulating that Raúl Castro, the 95-year-old former Cuban leader, has suffered a stroke and is hospitalized in critical condition, being kept alive by machines. The news has sent shockwaves through South Florida’s Cuban exile community — people who have waited decades for this moment and now watch with a mix of raw emotion, cautious hope, and deep skepticism about what comes next.
Raúl Castro is not Cuba’s Head of State. That role is held by Miguel Díaz-Canel. But as so many analysts who follow Cuban politics note, Díaz-Canel does not run anything. Castro has been Cuba’s strongest leader since Fidel stepped down in 2008. After Fidel’s death in 2016, Raúl has remained Cuba’s unifying figure. He controls the military. He controls the Communist Party. Without him, the internal structure of the Cuban regime would be put to its greatest test in over six decades.
The story is also very personal for the many families in Miami who were torn apart by the Cuban revolution. Many of them had their property seized, and had relatives who were imprisoned or even executed by Fidel Castro’s forces. Others fled Cuba on rafts or on overcrowded planes with little more than the clothes on their back. And while they have longed for the day when the Castro regime would finally come to an end, for many of them that day will never come. In fact, many of their parents and grandparents waited until their dying breath for that day to finally arrive.
According to Diario Las Américas executive director Iliana Lavastida, Cuban sources report that Raúl Castro had a stroke and is on life support. While NBC 6 and CBS Miami have published the story, neither outlet has independently verified information about the 95-year-old former Cuban leader’s condition. The Cuban government has not commented — which, for anyone who follows Cuba, is itself telling.
As for what might happen next in Cuba, no one really knows. Cuba is already in full-blown crisis — constant blackouts, food shortages, the largest mass exodus of any country in the Western Hemisphere in decades. All the regime has going for it is repression and inertia. Whether Castro’s absence will bring an end to the inertia that has maintained the regime all these years is anyone’s guess.
As for what the Cuban community in South Florida thinks — they will not forget what Raúl Castro has done. Whatever happens in Havana in the next few days, South Florida will be watching.
